Dennis Rodman's trips to North Korea – Dennis Rodman sings "Happy Birthday" to North Korean leader Kim Jong Un before an exhibition basketball game in Pyongyang, North Korea, on Wednesday, January 8. In his latest round of "basketball diplomacy," Rodman made his fourth visit to North Korea, one of the world's most totalitarian states, to participate in a basketball game between North Korea and a team of former NBA players.

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Photos: Dennis Rodman in N. Korea18 photos

Dennis Rodman's trips to North Korea – Rodman bows to Kim, seated above in the stands, before the basketball game on January 8.

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Dennis Rodman's trips to North Korea – Rodman stands up after he and fellow former NBA players completed a television interview at a hotel in Pyongyang on Tuesday, January 7.

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Dennis Rodman's trips to North Korea – Son Kwang Ho, vice minister of North Korea's Sports Ministry, greets former NBA star Dennis Rodman at the airport in Pyongyang on Monday, January 6.

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Dennis Rodman's trips to North Korea – Rodman plays one-on-one with a North Korean player during a basketball practice session in Pyongyang on Friday, December 20, 2013. During the session, Rodman selected the members of the North Korean team who will play in Pyongyang against visiting NBA stars on January 8, the birthday of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

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Dennis Rodman's trips to North Korea – Rodman holds a cigar as he speaks to North Korean basketball players during a practice session in Pyongyang on December 20.

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Dennis Rodman's trips to North Korea – Rodman attracts notice as he enters the Koryo Hotel in Pyongyang on Thursday, December 19.

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Dennis Rodman's trips to North Korea – Rodman arrives at Beijing's airport before his flight to North Korea on December 19.

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Dennis Rodman's trips to North Korea – Rodman shows photos of himself with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un while talking to journalists at the Beijing airport on September 7 after his second trip to the reclusive, nuclear-armed nation. Rodman returned from the communist country announcing he will put together a "basketball diplomacy" event with players from North Korea. But he put a damper on any speculation he might have been trying to free imprisoned American Kenneth Bae.

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Dennis Rodman's trips to North Korea – Rodman shows a photo of himself with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un as he arrives at the Beijing airport on September 7. At a news conference Monday, September 9, he called Kim a "very good guy."

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Dennis Rodman's trips to North Korea – Rodman faces questions about detained American Bae at the Beijing airport on September 7. "It is not my job to talk about Kenneth Bae," he told reporters.

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Dennis Rodman's trips to North Korea – Rodman arrives at North Korea's Pyongyang airport on Tuesday, September 3. In a later interview with the British newspaper The Guardian, the ex-basketball star leaked the purported name of Kim's baby daughter.

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Dennis Rodman's trips to North Korea – Son Kwang Ho, vice chairman of North Korea's Olympic Committee, greets Rodman at the Pyongyang airport on September 3.

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Dennis Rodman's trips to North Korea – The retired NBA star faced criticism over his February visit to see the ruler of the repressive state. That trip came during a period of escalating tensions on the Korean Peninsula.

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Dennis Rodman's trips to North Korea – Airport staff take pictures of the former NBA star at a check-in counter at China's Beijing Capital International Airport on September 3 while he was heading to North Korea.

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Dennis Rodman's trips to North Korea – On an earlier visit, Rodman and Kim watch a basketball game together in this image released by HBO for an episode of the documentary series "Vice" which aired in June.

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Dennis Rodman's trips to North Korea – Rodman walks by the base of the Tower of the Juche Idea in Pyongyang in March 2013, in this image released by the Korean Central News Agency.

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Dennis Rodman's trips to North Korea – Rodman and Kim share a toast in North Korea in February.

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Story highlights

Dennis Rodman to help prepare North Korean basketball players for an upcoming exhibition

Rodman is important to North Korea's attempts to project unity, columnist Gordon Chang says

Sister of Kenneth Bae calls on Rodman to press for detainee's release

Former NBA star Dennis Rodman arrived in North Korea on Thursday, the country's state-run media reported.

Rodman was there for his latest round of controversial "basketball diplomacy" in a country ruled by one of the world's most repressive regimes.

The former player and a documentary crew were scheduled to spend four days helping to train a team of North Korean basketball players for a January exhibition in Pyongyang.

That January 8 exhibition -- said to be against a yet-unannounced team of former NBA players -- will celebrate the birthday of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, whom Rodman has called a friend and a "very good guy" despite international condemnation of the country's human rights records.

Rodman's trip -- sponsored by the online betting company Paddy Power -- is the 52-year-old's third to North Korea.

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Rodman said he struck up a friendship with Kim, a basketball fan, during Rodman's first trip in February. After the two men sat next to each other watching a basketball exhibition in North Korea's capital, Rodman told Kim that "you have a friend for life."

Rory Scott, a Paddy Power spokesman, said earlier this month that December's trip is nonpolitical, but is intended "to prove once again that sport has the power to rise above all issues."

It's not clear whether Rodman will meet with Kim on the basketball training visit.

The trip comes at a time of political turmoil in the secretive nuclear-armed nation, ongoing tensions between North Korea and the United States and outcries over North Korea's human rights record.

Tensions in the region were ratcheted up as North Korea carried out a long-range rocket launch a year ago and an underground nuclear test, its third so far, in February. The U.N. sanctions that followed were met by a barrage of threatening rhetoric from Pyongyang.

Rodman was criticized for his first trip in part because it came during this period, in which North Korea was threatening missile strikes on the United States, South Korea and Japan.

The situation has calmed since. But in a sign of internal political upheaval, North Korea announced last week that the regime had executed Kim's uncle, Jang Song Thaek, who had been regarded as the country's second-most powerful figure. North Korea's official news agency accused him of trying to overthrow the state.

Rodman is "really important" to the North Korean regime, said North Korea expert and Forbes.com columnist Gordon Chang.

"Got to remember that Kim Jong Un needs to show that his regime, his government, is united, which it isn't," said Chang, author of "Nuclear Showdown: North Korea Takes On the World."

"With Dennis Rodman, we're going to see a lot of made-for-television events. Everybody's going to be smiling, everything will appear normal, and this will bolster the regime," Chang told "CNN Newsroom" on Wednesday.

'It is not my job to talk about' detained American

The United States has other points of contention with North Korea, including the detention of Korean-American Kenneth Bae.

Bae, arrested in North Korea in November 2012, was sentenced to 15 years of hard labor after he was found guilty of "hostile acts" and attempts to topple the government through religious activities.

U.S. officials have repeatedly called on North Korean officials to release Bae, widely reported to be a Christian missionary, on humanitarian grounds. His family has said he suffers from chronic health conditions that require doctors' care.

Earlier this year, Rodman made no secret about his desire to help Bae. He tweeted that he wanted Kim to "do him a solid" by freeing the American prisoner.

But after his second trip to see Kim in September, Rodman told reporters that it was "not my job to talk about Kenneth Bae."

Bae's sister, Terri Chung, told CNN on Wednesday that she wants Rodman to press for her brother's freedom.

"I would certainly hope and plead with Mr. Rodman to reconsider and ... make the case" for Bae's freedom, she said.

Rodman, the tattooed and pierced NBA retiree, has emphasized that he's not an official diplomat between the United States and North Korea.

"It's about trying to open Obama's and everyone's minds," he said in September while announcing the January exhibition, aiming some of his remarks at the U.S. President. "You don't have to talk about politics. ... Meet him or even give him a call. That's all he wants."

Paddy Power has said Rodman's team of former NBA players would be announced sometime this month.